Paper Title and Abstract:
Making Selves among Ruins: Narratives of an Industrial Past in Turkey’s Forests
The main goal of this paper is to discuss ideas of the state and processes of subject formation with reference to forestry in Turkey. I do this by analyzing the history and ethnography of a forestry enterprise in Ayancik, in northern Turkey. On a theoretical level I expect to contribute to the literature on state theories, nostalgia as well as the more recent debates on ‘good life’.
Participant Bio:
Hande Ozkan is an Assistant Professor of Anthropology at Transylvania University in Lexington, Kentucky. Dr. Ozkan received her Ph.D. from Yale University in 2013, her M.A. from the Atatürk Institute for Modern Turkish History at Boģaziçi University in 2002, and her B.A. from Marmara University in 1999. Dr. Ozkan’s research focuses on the connections between the environment, state making, and subject formation. Dr. Ozkan also has previous graduate training in history and combines ethnographic questions with an historical approach in her research and teaching.